Blogging about the things that I love to do including learning and implementing homesteading, sustainability and permaculture practices into my daily life. I also use this blog as an online journal writing about the day in and day out happenings in my life which include balancing family, work and the needs of the homestead, all while keeping in mind that you have to stop and smell the roses and count your blessings along the way.

Sunday, January 22, 2017

The homestead dreamer should really think long and hard before choosing between buying

raw land and an established place with electricity, water, living structures, fencing and outbuildings.

I bought this property before I met and married my husband Tommy, and had developed a huge emotional connection to the dream of living here, when he told me he was willing to relocate from Florida to New Mexico and help me make my dream come true, I was over the moon.

However, hindsight being 20/20, if I had to do it all over again, knowing what I know now, I must admit that I might reconsider buying a completely undeveloped piece of land and opt for an older already established homestead. Don't get me wrong, I am in love with this place and the challenges have been quite the adventure but this journey can certainly test the bond between husband and wife. I don't think it is fair to paint a picture of roses and sunshine when the reality is that its not an easy life, I have seen too many homesteaders that I have admired not withstand the stress of the day in and day out workload and the heartbreaks associated with the inevitable failures that occur on homesteads, farms and ranches every day.

The challenges you face building from the ground up are many. Number one, it takes money, even when you think you have estimated every penny you will need, prepare for emergencies. Equipment breakdowns, vet bills, and the costs associated with keeping warm in the winter and cool in the summer will always be more than you can anticipate.

Working off of the homestead is another challenge, if my husband were not retired and able to be here full time it would be twice as hard for us to keep things running smoothly. If you do need to work off of the homestead traveling distance and weather can present another big challenge. I drive an hour to work daily. Because our property is off of a dirt road, snow and rain make it necessary to have a 4 wheel drive vehicle and even with a jeep there are days when I am not sure I will make it out, and on that note forget about ever having a clean vehicle again.

Having a way to get water is another huge challenge that cannot be underestimated and is a topic I will address more completely in a separate post.

What to live in is probably one of the biggest considerations, one that we have not quite figured out yet. If you have some construction/building savvy you will be way ahead of the game. Unfortunately, that is not a talent the either my husband or myself possess so we will have to decide to pay a builder to build a home or go with a mobile home, a choice that we can't seem to be able make, not to mention one that we feel financially prepared for. So, for now we are trailersteading, term I first heard in the book by Anna Hess "Trailersteading", which was a pretty inspiring read.

Living in a travel trailer poses its own set of challenges that I will talk about in another post but with used travel trailers available in all cost ranges they do provide a way to get to the business of living on the land,a choice that I would definitely make again.

This is the Keytone Everest that my husband and I are currently living in.

This is the Holiday Rambler that my 25 year old son is living in.

The straw bales are our attempt at winterizing, we had the pipes freeze on both trailers right around New Years day and they stayed frozen for about 2 days. The straw bales seem to be keeping that from happening again. I will share more about this form of tiny home living in another post.

Friday, January 20, 2017

I want to write about some of the big projects we have completed here on the homestead for two reasons, first to simply remember this process and second to give others who are out there homestead dreaming an idea of what one can expect if they decide to start literally from the ground up.

One of the first things we did to make this land comfortable to live on was to get electricity to the place. While the idea of being off grid is really appealing and I so admire those who can make it work, it was not a reasonable plan for us right now. I work full time and am often up and on the road well before dawn and I know that I would have a really hard time trying to live without electricity. I would love to see us add solar panels and other off grid means of heating and cooking but not at the expense of my sanity.

We were incredibly lucky that the local power company had already run power lines along the outer edge of our property, this saved us a ton of money. The first thing we had to do is have a local electrician come in and put in a drop pole and the panel boxes that hold the breakers. After that we then had the local electrical company come out and run a line from the main power lines to the drop pole. Next, we had to have the State inspector come and give his blessing to the set up. After it passed inspection we were able to have the electrician come back and run the lines to our storage sheds, and install two fifty amp outlets to the two travel trailers we have brought up to the property to live in. We spent roughly around $7.000 for the whole electrical set up. As we add other dwellings, water pumps etc. we will pay the electrician for those upgrades as we go.

I wanted desperately to be on the property and had I not been fortunate enough to have the money to get the electricity installed I would have been looking at the best generator I could get to power the self contained trailers. With horses and other animals on the property keeping everyone in water would have been a much greater challenge. Speaking of water, did I mention that we have to haul water? Yes we do, and that is a post for another day.

The last time I posted was in April, 2014. I can't believe that almost 3 years have passed since that post. By the way four of the chicks pictured in that post are still alive and clucking away in Florida. As for me, life happened, I moved 2000 miles across the country and the blog fell by the wayside, but it was always something I wanted to get back to someday. Blogging for me was alway such a great creative outlet and allowed me to connect to so many amazing people all over the world, I am really excited that the cold days of my first real winter here on the new homestead will allow me some time to sit and start again.

So much has changed in my life since that last post I am not sure where to begin. I have realized one of my greatest dreams and finally moved to New Mexico onto a bautiful 30 acre piece of land at the base of the Manzano mountains. This place is truly my forever home and I am grateful every day for the peace and tranquility of this land. That being said, now the real work has begun, and as anyone who ever started a homestead from a raw parcel of land knows it is a labor of love. Since I am still working full time as a nurse and Hubby Honey Do has retired, a great deal of the blood sweat and tears that keep this place moving forward are his so I felt it fitting to rename the blog but have not yet come up with a name that fits. I'll have to mull it over a while.

I look forward to checking in with the bloggers that I used to visit often, and that some of my followers are still out there and stop by to say hello. I look forward to seeing what you have been up to over the last 3 years and look forward to sharing this new life of mine with you.

This picture is from my front window Christmas Day 2016.

I hope other new homesteaders can be encouraged from the progress we make as we build this new high desert homestead from the ground up.